Heretic;757678 wrote:Buccos (or Bucs) is short for Buccaneers, which is a synonym for Pirates. With the way the team's been the last couple decades, if I wanted a catchier nickname for them, I'd change Pirates to LOW-rates. But that's just me.

That makes sense. Thank you.

Last night was disappointing. Blew a 2-0 lead and then a 5-3 lead in losing 6-5. Pitching was an issue, as Karstens, Crotta and Beimel all were disappointing. I can see Crotta in the minors soon. He got out to a decent start, but is now getting hit a lot harder. He's a guy that's considered more of an organizational player than an actual major league prospect and that's starting to show.

Dan McCutchen was a pleasant surprise. Still hasn't given up a run and has a sub-1 WHIP.

For being a "pitcher's park", it's been surprising easy to get the ball out of whatever the hell San Diego's place is called. Six home runs combined through two games.

7-1 Pirates lead over the Padres as they head to the 5th.

I love Petco Park. Not quite PNC Park but very nice none the less.

The Bucs win another series on the road, winning 7-4 tonight. Some hard to believe numbers...

---The Pirates are 11-8 on the road, this after going 17-64 last year.
---The Pirates have the most wins on the road so far this year in all of MLB.

Also, they're in sole possession of third place 31 games into the series. And if not for either them blowing a lead last night or the Reds waking up in the bottom of the ninth today, they'd be alone in second. And this is with subpar starts by A. McCutchen, Alvarez, Meek and a couple others (admittedly combined with shockingly good starts by D. McCutchen, Morton, Correia and a couple others).

I feel bad for San Diego's starter tonight. Only one of his seven runs was earned. Two straight errors and he completely lost it for an extended period of time, which is understandable. It's good he did, as Veras tried to make the game interesting in the 9th after being dominating for a few appearances.

It's nice not feeling pessimistic at this stage of the season. They're playing well and winning on the road. If they can pick it up at home, they could at least be a respectable team that contends far longer than expected. And with how weak the Central seems right now (only one of six teams above .500), just hanging around .500 could accomplish that!

Other than that Florida series, they've definitely been very competitive so far this season.

The starting pitching has been the biggest surprise, especially Correia coming in and anchoring the staff.

Yeah. 5-2 with a 2.9 ERA. Much better than I expected.

In news of the mundane, John Bowker (replaced by Xavier Paul, who has done well filling in for Tabata even if he was 0-5 last night after about three straight 2-4 games) cleared waivers and will report to Indy.

There's no reason why anyone should really care, as Bowker looks to be one of those guys who mashes in AAA and can't hit in the bigs, so yeah. Another post, another 3 or so vCash. YAY!

Tonight, they start a three-game home series with the bottom-feeding Astros. If they win 2/3 they're .500; if they sweep they're above .500. For an early-season series, this is a pretty big one for a few factors, including the "getting to/above .500" one. First, it'd be nice for them to show some aptitude at home, where they're 4-8 so far. Second, they're entering a stretch where, barring rain, they'll be playing 17 straight days. If they get off to a bad start, it could snowball and this could very quickly become another season of "different year, same Pirates".

Great win tonight! 6-1 over Houston after last night's defeat. Charlie Morton was great in moving to 4-1 (and let's face it, saying a Pirates pitcher actually is something like 4-1 is an accomplishment in itself) and the team put runs together in two different innings. If MacDonald can put together his third straight quality start, they can improve to .500 tomorrow.

Love to see it but everytime the Bucs get a chance to get to .500 they take a dump. Morton could be comeback player of the year

Doumit with a 3 run shot in the 8th gives the Pirates the win and they reach .500! (Yea, it takes so little to get Pirates fans excited), but hopefully we have a team that will at least be interesting to watch as summer approaches.

How 'bout dem Pirates!!!!

Another series win and the team's .500 through 34 games. It's sad that I'm excited by this, but with the last couple decades, it's kinda hard not to be.

Break out the Bucs! A 3 run 8th gives the Pirates a 4-1 win over the Dodgers. Now 1 game over .500. Lets just end the season now and break the streak! lol

Xavier Paul was a nice pickup. He has really strengthened the bench in a short period of time.

The amazing thing is Cutch, Tabata and Alvarez are all struggling and they're still playing some good ball because of the starting pitching.

JEBUS FARKING K-RICST!!!! They are showing at the time they'd rather be fighting with the Cards and Reds than hanging with the Astros. That's just fucking great. Without a lot of key guys contributing consistently offensively and with key pitchers like Ohlendorf, Meek and Resop being injured and/or inconsistent. You have to expect some of their big positives faltering at some point, but you also have to expect some of their struggling potential stars to pick it up. They could be a potential legit contender if things roll the right way.

Heretic;763840 wrote:. They could be a potential legit contender if things roll the right way.

Like a bowling ball gutter return? Or one of these thingy's?.

Back to .500.....but it was fun while it lasted.

Hopefully last night was the last time in a long time (if ever) we see Crotta in a game. He had a couple good outings at the beginning of the year, but I don't think he's really big league material and it is showing big-time now. They'd have likely lost anyway, but he turned a game where they were within reach into a blowout in a hurry. I believe Jose Ascanio is near the end of his rehab assignment and they need to make a decision on him. He's been struggling in the minors, but at least has big league stuff (heard he was hitting 96-97).

And it's official. Ascanio is called up and Crotta is put on the DL for some arm-related malady.

You could pick any average coach-pitch team and they'd have done as good as the Pirates offensively yesterday. That was just disgusting. The pitching has been an overall pleasant surprise, but they're hitting as badly as a West Coast pitchers' park team like Seattle or San Diego.

Tonight is a big game for the Bucs. After reaching and passing the .500 mark you don't want to start a streak going the other way. Very strange to have Charlie Morton be your best chance to stop a losing streak.

^^^^ This is known as flippin the bird to the grim reaper....

Game was rained out last night. Considering the Pirates were down 1-0 after two innings and Morton was struggling, having given up four hits in that time, that might have been for the best.

They go to Milwaukee tonight. James MacDonald, who has been very good in his last three or so starts, will start against Gallardo.